


Friends with Kids

by omg-kent-mashkov (Sotheylived)



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Fluff, Foster Care, Get Together, Kid Fic, M/M, Marriage of Convenience, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-16 17:40:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9282899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sotheylived/pseuds/omg-kent-mashkov
Summary: Ransom and Holster's relationship is completely platonic - even if Ransom wishes it weren't.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as a list fic then got ridiculously long, so hopefully it won't read too much like a list fic. Also as a disclaimer I know very little about the foster care to adoption process, so sorry if it's inaccurate. Thanks for reading, commenting, and liking it really makes my day.

 

For your consideration. Picture Holster as a coach for a youth hockey group and there’s this little girl, let’s call her Piper, and she’s super cute and her parents are literally always late to pick her up from practice. Once Holster had to call them and remind them to come pick her up cause practice had ended an hour ago - and just, this girl is so awesome and loves hockey even though she kind of sucks at it and she carries this little Dora the Explorer backpack with her everywhere. 

So whenever she’s waiting for her parents to pick her up she’ll grab a book or toy or coloring book out of her back pack and at first she’d just play quietly while waiting, but then Holster tells the other coaches they can go on ahead (cause they’re always anxious to leave once practice is done since it’s unpaid volunteer work) and he starts talking to her. Eventually one day after practice she just sort of climbs up into Holster's lap while they’re waiting in the lobby and gives him her book to read to her and his heart just? melts a little honestly

And he legit always comes home to Ransom - they’re roommates, again because Holster tried the whole nine to five thing three states away from Ransom and he would rather be barely making ends meet by working at the local hockey rink than making six figures if it means he gets to spend every day with his best friend - but that’s a whole other story. But anyway he is always talking about how smart Piper is and what funny thing she did that day. Ransom even feels like he kind of knows her because Holster talks about her so much. 

One day when they have a game on a day that Ransom has off from the hospital he surprises Holster by showing up. He talks to the other parents in the stands and quickly figures out which kid is Piper, because when they come out onto the ice Holster is practically carrying her and it takes almost a full three minutes of coaxing before she lets go of him and skates over to her spot on the ice. 

Ransom thinks that’s like the cutest thing ever. He asks the parents who are sitting near him whose kid she is and all the parents are saying she isn’t theirs and Ransom is confused before one of the moms sitting nearby asks who he’s talking about again. He points to number three on the ice and the mom tells him that Piper is in foster care and the parents – “are a steaming pile of shit.”

Holster never mentioned that Piper is a foster kid and Ransom feels like that’s something he would’ve mentioned because he legit can’t shut up about the kid like “Rans she’s so smart though, she can read Dr. Seuss all by herself and that’s good for a five year old right? I bet you couldn’t even read at five bro (Rans was reading at three and a half, but that’s beside the point) and I mean she kind of sucks at skating, but she tries so hard Rans, like she keeps getting up every time she falls, and Rans today she drew me an elephant! It was so cute I have it hanging on my locker at work and it even looks like an elephant and everything.”

 When the game is over Ransom walks out to the lobby with the other parents as the coaches shepherd the kids off towards the locker room. They didn’t keep score officially since the kids are barely older than toddlers, but Ransom knows Holster’s team won. Once the kids are done getting out of their skates and everything the parents start leaving one by one (a lot of them thanking Holster as they do because he basically singlehandedly started the kids' rec league - with some generous equipment donations from his NHL friends and the volunteering help of his coworkers/ co-coaches)

When there are only a couple stragglers Ransom makes his way over to Holster

“Good game man,” he says, punching Holster in the arm lightly and Holster’s cheeks, which are still tinged a little pink from the cold of the rink, darken slightly and he ducks his head.

“Yeah they’re a great group of kids; I don’t know how much I’ve taught them though” 

Ransom knows that’s not true because Holster came home from the first day of practice three months ago lamenting the fact that only three of the kids on his entire team had even been to an ice rink before, and only one of them had actually been on the ice

Ransom lets it slide though and says, "Is that Piper," pointing at the little redhead whose sitting half upside down on one of the benches and kicking her feet at the adjacent locker. 

Holster smiles all proud and shit and it makes Ransom’s heart beat in double time

“Yeah,” he says, “Want to meet her?” 

Ransom nods and then he’s being introduced to a five year old. She is super shy but he gets down on her level and starts talking to her about hockey and she just lights up and after a solid fifteen minutes of listening to her ramble about something Ransom thinks might be vaguely hockey related, or about cats, he’s honestly not sure, he turns around and looks up at Holster behind him and Holster’s just, got this Look on his face that Ransom can’t place. Ransom smiles back. 

A little while later when she’s distracted coloring - and she’s actually really good at art, okay? not like her hockey 'good' but actually legitimately good - Ransom goes up to Holster and says, “Bro, why didn’t you mention Piper was a foster kid?” Holster looks caught completely off guard. Ransom hadn’t even thought about the possibility that Holster didn’t know

“Fuck,” he curses, shooting a quick glance to Piper who doesn’t seem to have heard him, “I didn’t know. I thought her parents seemed kind of shitty, but I mean, it’s not like biological parents can’t be fucked up - or that foster ones can’t be good, it’s just…” 

“ I know man,” Ransom says, because he always seems to know what Holster’s thinking and it’s just, she’s so young and sweet and every kid deserves parents that’ll come to their hockey games and remember to pick them up from practice and -

“That’s them,” Holster says, interrupting Ransom’s thoughts and pointing to this van out in the parking lot.

Piper gets up and starts packing up her coloring book and the car in the lot honks its horn and Holster’s face goes hard for a split second before he puts on a forced smile and turns to Piper

“Hey Piper-pie,” Holster says, and the girl smiles up at him. “I’m going to walk you out to your car and come talk to your parents for a minute, okay?” 

Pipers face falls and she shifts her Dora backpack higher up onto her shoulder and she seems entirely smaller than she did five minutes ago

“I can walk home,” she says apropos nothing. 

“What?” Holster says, looking to Ransom for clarification, but he just shrugs, “You’re ride is here though.” 

“I mean other times, when they take too long,” she says pointing at the car. “I know you don’t want to wait for me.” 

Holster looked offended by the thought and scoops her up off the ground, hoisting her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry as she giggles uncontrollably. Ransom feels like it isn't his place to follow them into the parking lot, but he does hear Holster say that the best part of his day is waiting with her before the door swings shut behind them.

When Holster walks back in he looks a weird combination of excited, terrified and maybe a little bit confused. “So Piper is going to chill at our house after practice from now on,” he says. 

So that’s how their house ends up wallpapered in drawings and games and with children’s books lining the shelves along with Ransom’s medical texts and Holster’s dvd cases.

Piper comes home with Holster after practice two days a week and after games every other Saturday. On weekdays she’s usually there until after dinner before her foster parents finally come and get her (it seems like now that she’s not waiting at the rink they’re in even less of a hurry to come pick her up, but honestly Piper, Ransom and Holster aren’t in any hurry either). Some Saturdays Piper’s foster sister comes to her games and walks her home afterwards (and neither of them would ever admit it, but Ransom knows both he and Holster silently dread those days) but other days she comes to hang out with them and her parents never pick her up for at least three hours afterwards so it’s on those days that they go to the park or the beach or even the movies.

Now Ransom knows why Holster was such a fan of Piper because she’s literally the most awesome little person Ransom’s ever met, excluding Holtzy but only just. Plus, seeing Holster interact with her is just a special sort of torture Ransom thought he and his bisexual ass were used to by now, but when they’re at the beach and Holster’s pretending to be a sea monster that’s come to destroy her sand castles and Piper’s squealing as she and Ransom try to build them fast than Holster can destroy them and Ransom’s heart just - stutters at the way Holster looks at the two of them and if he’s feeling particularly masochistic he’ll pretend that the look Holster directs at him is something like love as Ransom plays school with Piper and teaches her about the bones in the body while she listens with rapt attention 

One day two months after they've started babysitting Piper after games and practice while they're at the ice cream parlor, with Holster giving Piper a piggyback ride as Ransom pays, there's this middle-aged white dude sitting in the corner giving him a judgey look and Ransom is just super confused because they aren't doing anything wrong, and even aren't being their super obnoxious selves. So Ransom turns to Holtzy to ask him and he sees Holster bending down so Piper can climb off his back so she'll be able to take her ice cream and then he looks up at Ransom with a beaming smile that nearly makes Rans’ heart fall out of his chest. He throws money at the counter and takes their ice creams, giving Piper and Holster theirs before grabbing his from the clerk and  _oh_  he gets it now because rando thinks they’re an interracial gay couple and Ransom just can't, because it’s so stupid and frustrating and the worst part is Ransom wishes it were true.

He nudges Holster and tilts his head at asshole-man and Holster’s brow furrows for a second before his eyes spark with mischief which never means something good for the opposing team, and at the moment Ransom feels a bit like the opposing team. Before Ransom can even say anything Holster is kissing him and his brain just-short circuits because  ????

Then Holster’s pulling back with a wicked grin and says, “Might as well give him a show” and of course it wasn’t anything - it didn’t mean anything. And if Ransoms palms sweat and his heart races for the rest of the afternoon, well no one else needs to know. 

Once they walk out of the shop to the picnic tables outside Piper plops down between Ransom and Holster and says, "are you dating?" with the sort of bluntness only children are capable of.  

Ransom looks at Holster over her head because what do you even say to that when she just clearly saw you kiss. Holster shrugs and Ransom knows it means well, bro we did just kiss in front of the girl what’d you expect?

“Holster and I love each other,” Ransom non answers because how do you explain to a kid that you’ve been in love with your best friend since you met him seven years, six months, thirteen days and four hours ago (give or take) but you’ve never said a word because he is almost definitely not into you and also probably straight though you’ve never really asked and he’s never said - when you can barely even explain it to yourself.

Apparently his answer is good enough for Piper because she just sort of nods sagely and goes back to her ice cream.

It's a week later when Ransom's getting off his third night shift in a row and he feels a bit like he's in a dream even though he knows he's awake so he definitely needs to sleep like 18 hours asap when Holster says, "I think we should adopt Piper," as he's walking through the door.

Ransom just cannot process what Holster is saying and move his feet at the same time so he kind of collapses onto the couch and makes grabby hands at Holster until he's sitting next to him. Ransom grabs Holster's arm and brings it up around his shoulder before nestling his head into the crook of Holster's shoulder and waving at Holster as if to say okay go.

Holster starts talking about how much they both like Piper and how much she likes them, "Even when we did have to put her in time out that one time when she started using her marker's on the wall - which honestly looks way better with her addition but like the point is we both really like her Rans and we're like parenting and shit by setting boundaries and things and I just -" Holster cuts off and Ransom jerks his eyes open, having not even realized he'd closed them

"I'm awake," Ransom says, looking up at Holtzy, "Sorry - I'm listening dude."

Holster takes a deep breath and says, "I want to adopt her, and I mean it wouldn't just be me because you live here too and I think we could be really good parents to her and fuck the idea that only people who are in a relationship can be parents like we'd be the best platonic co-parents ever," Holster clears his throat and says, "So what do you think bro?" He looks so scared.

Ransom is so insanely tired he's borderline stupid so he reaches up and drags his finger down the length of Holster's jaw before patting his cheek and saying "Mmm yeah Adam, let's do it." 

Holster looks so fucking excited that he's going to do something dumb like jump up and dislodge Ransom, so Ransom nuzzles himself a little deeper into Holster's chest and tightens his grip on his shirt and says, "Okay. Now let me sleep Holtzy."

When he wakes up thirteen hours later he's in his bed tucked up under the covers and he isn't 100% sure if Holster asked him to adopt Piper yesterday. He thought it seemed super real, but he also vaguely remembers Holster tracing patterns into his skin and pressing a soft kiss to his forehead after carrying him to bed, so now he's pretty sure he was dreaming.

When he walks out into the kitchen there's a steaming cup of coffee waiting for him and Holster's sitting perched on one of their bar stools. Ransom walks into the room, takes his cup of coffee and plops onto the stool next to him.

"Morning sleepy head," Holster says, patting Ransom on the head.

Ransom groans in response but he honestly feels 1000 times better and is fairly certain he won't be hallucinating anything today.

"Shitty thinks we should get married," Holster says, and okay maybe not about the whole hallucinating thing. 

"What?" Ransom splutters, trying not to choke on his coffee.

"To adopt Piper," Holster clarifies, and okay so Ransom didn't hallucinate that. "Shitty thinks we'd have a better shot at adopting her if we're married," Holster says, stealing a sip from Ransom's cup and pulling a face like he always does because when Ransom gets off a shift he always takes his coffee black and Holster knows this but he still steals it anyway. 

"Well to be fair," Holster says, "Shitty said, 'it's totally fucked but the court probs won't even consider platonic co-parenting. So what d'you think?" Holster asks, and he reminds Ransom of a puppy, nearly bouncing out of his seat to contain his excitement. 

It's probably really really stupid of him, but Ransom says, "Yeah," he clears his throat, "Yeah Holtzy I'll marry you," because he's apparently a masochist who is willing to platonically marry his best friend so that they can platonically raise a kid together even though he's been in love with the man for more than half a decade. 

A smile blooms on Holster's face and Ransom can't bring himself to regret a thing. 

 

They get married at the courthouse less than a month later and Ransom's heart feels like it’s being simultaneously ripped out of chest and stitched back in. Holster looks so damn happy and even if he can't have him the way he wants him, Ransom is happy too because he  _loves_  Holster and he's going to get to spend the rest of his life with him. 

They don't tell any of their friends because it's not like they're _really_  getting married. They use a courthouse witness and hire a lawyer based on Shitty's recommendation because, "brahs I'm not a family court lawyer.”

It takes a while and they don't tell Piper at first because they don't want to get her hopes up in case something falls through but eventually it starts to look like it's going to work and they're going to be parents, they're going to be parents?!? So Ransom starts tentatively telling some of the other residents about how he and his partner are trying to adopt and they're really nervous and excited. He knows it what it sounds like when he says partner, but he can't bring himself to care because if he wants to tell a little white lie to his coworkers - he can. 

One day as he comes home from work and plops down onto his bed he immediately sits straight back up because they live in a two bedroom and obviously Piper would get her own room, but he hadn't even thought of that before. He goes into Holster's room and accidentally wakes him up as he opens the door because he kind of forgot it was 3 am since he's been on this rotation.

"Wha?" Holster asks, rolling over so his pillow is on his face. "Rans either turn off the hall light or shut the door." 

Ransom steps into the room and shuts the door behind him, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness and Holster's in a bed that's definitely not the twin he'd stolen from his parents' house. 

"Dude where's your bed?" Ransom asks. 

"Ugh I'm in it Rans," Holster says, halfheartedly throwing a spare pillow at him. 

"Since when was your bed a queen?" Ransom asks, walking towards the bed and sitting down in the empty space beside him.

Holster pulls the pillow away from his face and looks up at him. "I ordered it a week ago and it arrived while you were at the hospital today," he says, rubbing his eyes. "Cause I figured we're a little old to be bunking beds Ransy." 

"You want to share?" Ransom asks dumbly, "Once Piper moves in?" 

"Yes," Holster says, grabbing Ransom's arm and tugging him until he's lying beside Holster on top of the comforter. "Now please let me sleep bro." 

They used to share a bed when they were too lazy to climb up the bunks at the Haus all the time, but this - this feels different. 

"Bro," Holster mumbles, turning on his side and throwing a heavy arm across Ransom's chest as he buries his freezing nose into Ransom's arm. "I can practically hear your brain whirring." 

Instead of voicing any of his very not platonic thoughts, he says, “We should let Piper paint her room however she wants." 

"Bro," Holster says, and Ransom can hear the smile in his voice even if he can't see it. A second later Holster tilts his head up and presses a sloppy kiss to Ransom's cheek before he falls back asleep. Ransom's heart feels ready to burst. 

After what seems like forever they finally get approved. They throw a party with all their friends and when the social worker brings Piper in, Ransom can barely keep a near manic grin off his face, but one glance at Holster and he doesn't feel quite as embarrassed at the tears pricking his eyes. 

"Piper," Holster says, as the girl walks towards them, "Ransom and I adopted you. You can come live with us now, and you'll never have to move families again." 

Ransom grabs Holster's hand and squeezes as they both wait for a reaction from Piper. They'd been subtly trying to gauge how she'd feel about the idea, asking how she liked being at their house, how she liked foster care, etc. They're pretty sure they know what her reaction will be. 

Piper bursts into tears. Holster looks at Ransom in panic, and okay they were definitely not expecting that - but Ransom's rotation in the ER has taught him nothing if not to remain calm in a crisis. Ransom squats down so that he's at Piper's level and before he can even say anything she throws herself at him and buries her face in his shoulder, small sobs wracking her little frame. 

Ransom mumbles nonsense to her as he stands, cradling Piper in his arms. He walks towards what is her room as of today. Holster makes as if to follow but Ransom holds up a hand, "I got this bro," he says because Piper knew Holster first and sometimes when she's around Ransom has to be at the hospital - but this - it's just - Ransom is her parent too. He can do this. 

Once they're in her room away from prying eyes, Ransom sets Piper down and her sobs have turned to little hiccups. 

"What's wrong Piper?" Ransom asks, and Piper sniffles and wipes the back of her hand across her nose and looks far older and younger than six at the same time. 

She'd had a birthday while they were in the process of adopting her, and her foster family had a cake for her because while they may be kind of shitty parents they aren't completely shitty people and then that weekend even though hockey had long been over (she'd still been coming over to their place at least two days a week) they'd taken her to the interactive art museum that Lardo works at so she'd gotten to play in a giant sculpture. Holster was so pissed that Ransom could fit but he couldn't that he'd pouted to Lardo the entire time they were in the sculpture. There was also a huge bubble maker that had made a giant bubble around them. There was a wall absolutely covered in paint that Piper had been able to add to - and Ransom's mine is wandering off track here but it was a lot of fun okay? 

Piper shrugs and she mumbles something that Ransom can't catch. 

"I'm not sad," Piper says after a long moment, sniffling having subsided. "I don't know why I cried. I'm really happy." 

Ransom smiles at her and he leans, whispering to her conspiratorially. He tells her that he and Holster had cried when they found out too and Piper smiles up at him before a little giggle escapes and Ransom can't believe that she's his  _daughter_  now - legally and everything. 

"This is going to be your room," Ransom says. His twin bed is in the corner with rainbow polka dot sheets that his sister sent him when she heard the news and the walls are white but, "We thought you'd like to paint the walls. We can have Miss Lardo over to help and paint them however you want." 

Piper looks up at the walls and her eyes go wide and she smiles. 

"Think you'd like that?" Ransom asks, and Piper nods quickly. 

"You ready to go back out to the party?"  

Piper leaps up to hug him quick before following him back to the party.  When they get back Holster gives him a look that says everything okay? Ransom smiles and nods back. 

At first Piper clings to Ransom's leg a little but then she grabs the sleeve of Lardo's shirt as she walks by and tugs until Lardo ducks down so she can whisper in her ear. She whispers in that way kids do where they don't really whisper at all so Ransom can hear her asking Lardo to help her paint her room. Lardo smiles and ruffles Piper's hair saying, "Sure thing little duck," and Piper absolutely beams.

By the end of the party Piper has climbed on Alexei Mashkov (ALEXEI MASHKOV!!!) like a jungle gym, begged Bitty for more pastries than her tiny frame could possibly eat, and asked Shitty if he was a superhero and that's why his name - Mr. Crappy - wasn't really a name. 

People begin to leave as it gets later, and eventually it's just Bitty, Shitty, Lardo and Jack straggling with Piper having been carried off to bed by Holster after she fell asleep on the couch a half hour ago. 

"Thanks for the advice man," Holster says to Shitty, slapping him on the back as he gets ready to leave. 

"Yeah," Ransom echoes, "They never would've even given our case a second glance if we weren't married." 

Four pairs of wide eyes swing to Ransom, and forgot that Lardo, Bitty and Jack didn't know, but he has no idea why Shitty seems shocked. He chances a glance at Holster, but Adam's looking down at his feet. 

"You're married?!" Shitty says. 

"Yeah bro," Ransom says, "You’re the one who suggested it." 

"I did no such thing." 

Ransom turns to Holster. "I thought you said it was his idea?" he says, confusion twisting his brow. 

Holster still isn't looking at him and it makes Ransom feel off kilter. After a long moment Holster says, "Well Shitty said that a single guy in his twenties isn't the epitome of stability, and started ranting about how it's so stupid that if I was the exact same person but in a stable relationship with someone who had a better income than minimum wage - and we were already going to raise her together so I just sort of thought," Holster shrugs, "why not platonically marry my best friend." 

"Hold up," Bitty says, raising a hand to interrupt. "Are you two saying that not only are you married to one another, but you're not actually involved in a romantic relationship?" 

Ransom and Holster glance at one another before nodding. 

"Well why not?" 

"Because Holtzy's not into dudes," Ransom says at the exact same time Holster says, "Because Ransom's straight." 

Ransom whips his head to look at Holster. 

"I'm not straight," they both say at the same time. It feels like Ransom's entire world just shifted on its axis because Adam is not straight, his best friend Adam Birkholtz is _not_  straight. 

"Well," Lardo interrupts, grabbing Shitty by the back of the collar, I think it's time we left. 

"You're really not straight?" Ransom says, because his brain is stuck on the same input and he cannot seem to move past it.  

Jack and Bitty follow Shitty and Lardo out, but Ransom barely even notices. 

"Dude, when was the last time I had a girlfriend for more than a week?" 

"I just thought you weren't a relationship kind of guy." 

Holster laughs and it sounds all wrong. Ransom hates it. "It's because I was basically already in a relationship with you. I'm gay Ransom, or bi - fuck if I know, but I do know that I definitely 100% am into guys." 

"I’m bi," Ransom says, and it's the first time he's ever said it out loud, but he's fairly certain his family has known ever since he brought Holster home the first time. "I can't believe you didn't know," he says, almost to himself. 

"Well it's not as though you were bringing guys back to the Haus," Holster says. 

"That's because I didn't want just any guy," and as soon as he says it Ransom realizes that he's just laid his cards all out on the table and he can't take them back. 

Holster smiles at him.

 "Justin," he says, "can I kiss you?" 

"Platonically?" Ransom asks, voice squeaking in a way it hasn't since he hit puberty. 

Adam shakes his head minutely, "No Justin. Not platonically." 

Justin's heart feels like it's about to pound out of his chest as he leans forward and kisses Holster. Suddenly it's like eight years up pent up feelings are pouring out of both of them all at once. He buries his hands knuckle deep in Holster's hair and Adam moans into his mouth. Adam's fingers slide down Ransom's sides until they're cupping his ass and pulling him impossibly closer and Justin gasps into the kiss because this is _perfect_ , and his and real and -  

He breaks the kiss, resting his forehead against Adam's as they pant the same air. 

"I love you," Holster says, hand coming up to cup his cheek. 

Justin reaches up to lace his fingers with Adam’s and smiles. 

 He could get used to this. 


End file.
